UK President Rishi Sunak has effectively confirmed this week’s spending review that a pay cut is likely for many public sector workers in the UK, and that it is “absolutely reasonable” to consider wage policy in the context of the Govt’s vulnerable economy.
Opportunity to return pay freeze It ran From 2010 to 2018, the opposition provoked outrage among MPs and the unions, with DUC General Secretary Francis O’Grady calling it a “morally obscene and bad economy.”
Government sources Have already raised Wednesday’s spending estimate is likely to result in a pay freeze, which will only cover one year that has given the economy uncertainty amid the corona virus.
NHS UK doctors and nurses are expected to be exempt.
When asked to confirm the pay freeze, the Chancellor told Sky Sophie Ridge on Sunday: “I can not comment on future wage policy in advance of the cost estimate, but what I am saying is that when we begin the cost review, I said, when we think of settlements, the broader economy It would be perfectly reasonable to think of those in the context of the situation. That’s a fair thing.
“Second, when we think about what’s the right thing to do in the public sector, I think it’s fair to think about what’s happening with wages, jobs, hours across the economy.”
So when asked if he had not ruled on the pay freeze, Sunak said: “You can ask me any question, do you reject it, or do you rule it out? Sector pay to be made in the context of the overall economic environment. I think this is a completely reasonable thing to do.
“We also talked about fairness – wages, jobs, employment, hours, looking at what’s going on across the economy, when we measure and figure out what’s the best thing to do for the public sector as well.”
The chancellor’s denial of this is a return to austerity, and the government has said it is over.
“You won’t see austerity next week,” Sunak said. “What you see is an increase in government spending on daily public services, which is one of the most significant, an increase we received last year.
“So there is no way anyone can say austerity. We will spend more on public services than we have.”
Sunak has refused to guarantee a long-term extension to the increase in global lending introduced by the corona virus outbreak, which ends in April.
The Chancellor said the change was part of a “critical phase of the crisis”: “We are reviewing everything and making the right decisions for the economy.”
O’Grady said he was “very concerned” about a new public sector pay freeze.
He said: “Millions of key workers took care of us during the crisis, and they continue to take care of us, and I think this is the time when we took care of them. I don’t think it’s time to pay back. “
“The prime minister promised in June that this would be the end of austerity, and that there would be no austerity.
He added: “There is still time for the government to back down. I will encourage them to think again. This is not smart politics, it is morally obscene, it is even a bad economy.”
